Diaspora
by RaptorJuice
Summary: Catapulted through space and time, a young girl must find the right words to say the most important thing of her life. Yuri. Ongoing.
1. One

The tree branch outside Toma's room danced in the piercing wind, casting erratic shadows on the wall behind her. The dark-haired girl sat slumped at her desk, fighting to stay awake. Leaving her homework to the last minute had not been the best idea. By the light of her desklamp, she tried in vain to wrap her tired brain around the problems that swam across the page in front of her. Ordinarily, she would have had little trouble tackling these antiquated sums, but in her sleep-deprived state they were rendered an incomprehensible soup of numbers.

Of course, this wasn't the only reason she couldn't concentrate.

The bespectacled girl's head was swarming with thoughts of Torako. That strange, perpetually enthusiastic girl who had caused Toma so much confusion. She was so... energetic, for want of a better term. Ever since their first meeting, she'd wanted to be Toma's friend, and endeavoured to fulfil her quest with psychotic zeal. At first, she felt mostly annoyance toward the other girl. Who is this fool, and why does she and her entourage of weirdos keep hassling me? It seemed simple. But it wasn't. There was something... intriguing about her. She did frequently infuriate her, but... somehow she didn't mind that much. She liked having Torako around, no matter how illogical it was. But then, things got more complicated. Every time she set eyes upon the shapely blonde, she felt an inexplicable but undeniable rush of happiness. Not that she'd ever let it show. It was true, she could be so cold to Torako at times, but this didn't seem to deter her in the slightest. If anything it seemed to strengthen her resolve. But the reason she tried to drive her away was not because she found her annoying, but because she no longer did. It was strange. She had every reason to regard Torako as an irritating brat. She was loud, rude, abrasive, disrespectful, crass, inconsiderate, funny, kind, sexy...

She started in frustration, blushing. That train of thought had clearly taken the wrong track somewhere.

But it was true. Torako had always inspired... strong feelings in Toma. She'd fought against them, tried to deny or disguise the powerful emotions that Torako inspired in her. But there was no denying it now. She had once, so long ago, felt that she would have to live with Torako's presence, but now she didn't think she could live without it. Her feelings hadn't come to head suddenly, rather they had crept up over time, until the conclusion was inescapable.

She was in love with Torako.

She was reasonably certain what this meant. She'd never been attracted to boys, not in that way. And before, she had found some girls attractive, yes, but she'd just attributed that to a vague sense of longing to belong to a social group, not desire. She'd never really been that concerned with sex and sexuality.

Until she'd met Torako.

She kept cropping up in Toma's dreams in... unusual ways. She longed to reach out and touch her, only to find herself clawing at the darkness. She blushed as she remembered that particular dream. She was so beautiful, her long flowing hair, her brilliant blue eyes, her... other attributes.

Looking back now, she could see that her appreciation for the appearances of other girls went far beyond what was considered "normal", but she hadn't realised this at the time.

But Torako wasn't like her. Torako... didn't have those feelings. Granted: she was very enthusiastic, but she wanted to be Toma's friend, nothing more. How would she react if she told her? With anger? Fear? Disgust? All of the above, probably. Sure, she could brush off Nene's affections, but that was just playful lust. It would be different if a girl was actively in love with her.

She valued their friendship too much. She couldn't tell her.

But not telling her hurt so much.

If she told Torako that she loved her, she was sure that she'd destroy their friendship. But if she didn't tell her, she felt like it would destroy herself.

She knew, sooner or later, she'd have to make a choice.

Toma sighed, then turned around.

And then, she made the most important discovery of her life.

In the corner of her room, was a blue box.

Stunned, Toma sat bolt upright, eyes fixated upon the new arrival. It was tall and rectangular, industrial but strangely organic. It was coloured a brilliant dark blue, and it resembled a wooden phone booth. Boxy writing at the top proclaimed it to be a "police public call box". It looked... bizarre in its inexplicable absurdity.

Where had it come from? Someone couldn't have moved it in; she'd been there the whole time. It was impossible. The most likely explanation, she eventually decided, was that she was dreaming. But after pinching herself several times, to no avail, she concluded that she was not. Perhaps she was hallucinating. Maybe she had finally accepted one of Koma's repeated offers to sell her dope. She shook her head violently, dismissing such a thought. She was prone to making bad decisions, yes, but she'd never be that stupid.

Tentatively, she rose to closer inspect the box. She surveyed it with a mixture of awe and apprehension. It was quite tall, about two and a half meters, and had two windows on each side. It also had two doors, like the ones of an old-timey cafe.

"_Open them"_ said a voice in the back of her head. Her id, she supposed. The inner animal, slave of impulse and desire, unrestrained by logic and compromise. Usually it was a voice she needed to shut out, especially when it gave her advice regarding Torako. But now, it had a point. There was no way something like this could even exist, let alone be moved silently to her room in a few minutes. Not to mention the fact that no-one else was here and awake. Her parents were out at some champagne-centric shindig (getting blind drunk), her sister was staying at a friend's house, (most likely _also_ getting blind drunk), and her brothers were both sound asleep.

There was no alternative. She was dreaming. In a deeper sleep than normal, perhaps, but dreaming nonetheless. Maybe she was unconscious. Perhaps she was lying lifeless in some hospital bed. Perhaps her parents were not, in fact, having alcohol-fuelled debates about Ninja Warrior and banana chips, but were maintaining a constant bedside vigil, overlooking her with concern. More likely, they were arguing who would foot the hospital bill while her sister asked if she could have Toma's room and her brothers were engaged in a frenzied debate about whether Optimus Prime could defeat Mecha-Godzilla.

She sighed. She supposed her family showed their care via a general lack of caring. She walked over to the box, well, prism technically, and ran a hand along one side. It felt wooden, but strong, warm and powerful. It vibrated slightly with the energy of another world. It felt strange, new and exciting.

_If this is a dream_, she thought_, then I might as well see where it takes me._ And without another thought, she thrust open the doors.


	2. Two

When Toma saw what was behind them, she closed the doors immediately, and proceeded to have a mild panic attack. After a minute or two of shaking slightly, she sprang into action, and began pacing the room frantically (for reasons not entirely known to her.)

_What! But... the... it's, it can't be, it's- _

"Bigger on the inside!" she yelled aloud, for want of a more climactic resolution to her thoughts. It... had seemed that there was an entire world beyond those doors, a world of teeming life and sound. All multicoloured shapes, blue and green light, spires like coral, teeming with power. It was bigger on the inside! Bigger! She felt as if she needed to say the phrase several times, just to do justice to the utter bizarreness of the situation! Bigger! Bigger! As in the opposite of smaller! As in **boldly **defying the laws of physics!

Recognising how inane she was beginning to sound, she lay spread-eagled on her bed, staring out her window at the stars.

There was no question about it now; she was on some sort of substance. But what? What kind of drug made you see blue phoneboxes with whole worlds inside them? She really wasn't experienced in this field. She turned to the box, half-expecting it to have turned into an enormous teakettle (or something) by now. But no, it was simply standing there just like it had been before, as if nothing had happened.

She couldn't face this alone. She had to call someone. And, truly, there was only one choice for this type of situation. Ignoring the voice of reason shouting in her head, she grabbed her phone off her bedside table and dialed a familiar number.

* * *

><p>"Yo!" Torako had been reclining on the couch, watching some faintly amusing sit-com from New Zealand or somesuch, when the phone had rang. "Torako? It's me."<p>

"Toma!" replied the luxuriant blonde. "How've ya been?"

"O..kay, I guess." the bespectacled girl stammered in response. "Listen, I... something weird's happened... is happening."

"Really? Brilliant!" Torako beamed. She loved weird things.

Toma glanced at the blue object, again, no change. "It really... well, I'll let you make up your own mind. It's hard to explain. You kind of need to see it. Please. I need you here. If only to prove I haven't gone violently insane."

Torako was equally concerned and intrigued. "Okay, I'll be right over."

And without another word, she donned her coat and ran out the door.

Later, Toma sat slumped against the wall of her room, staring at the blue box. She was feeling slightly better now that she knew Torako was on the way. She was perfectly aware that, rationally, it was a bad idea to add her to this scenario. But in the end, she didn't trust anyone else like she did Torako. Not even Toma's own parents. Despite her confusion and incomprehension regarding the box, she felt strangely... attached to the bizzare object. It was like she didn't want to have to share it with anyone.

She heard a knock at the door, and leapt to her feet.

_Almost_ anyone.

* * *

><p>"Aaaaah!" Torako exclaimed with incredulous delight.<br>"It is quite something." Toma reflected, mostly to herself. Tora ran up to the box, examining it from all sides.  
>"When did you get it? Also, what is it?"<br>"That's just it." said Toma sheepishly. "I didn't get it. It just... appeared, when my back was turned.  
>Torako glanced at the writing at the top. She screwed up her face as she attempted to read it. Foreign languages were not her area of expertise.<br>"Purisu... puburiku..."  
>"Call box" Toma finished for her. "Police public call box. I don't know what it means either. Some type of... artistic statement, maybe?"<br>"Let's open it!" said Torako, as if she were an excitable child.  
>"'Let's open it.'" Toma repeated flatly. "Not 'What is it?' or 'How did get here', or even 'Why did it get here?' Just 'Let's open it'. Sometimes, Torako, I wonder about you."<br>"Hey!" Torako protested. "I _did_ ask what it was, and I didn't get an answer, so I assumed you didn't know."  
>"Oh. Sorry." Toma paused, and stared up at the stars. "I've been awake for too long."<br>Torako had ran up to it, and was pulling on the doors with all her might. Toma was about to tell her that she had to push, before she remembered what she would see if she did. Come to think of it, why could she get in at all? It had a lock, why wasn't it sealed?  
>"Ugh!" Torako strained, "Why won't it open?"<br>Toma supposed that she should find out sooner rather than later.  
>"You push it."<br>"Oh, right. Here goes"  
>The door creaked.<p>

Toma closed her eyes, and counted to three.

"Aaaaaaaah!"

Torako had collapsed in shock, she lay on Toma's bed, awestruck. "It's, it's, it's..."  
>"Bigger on the inside?" Toma suggested helpfully.<p>

"AWESOME!" the blonde bellowed, grinning wildly. "Did you see all those cool wires, and that giant control panel, and all that weird light, and those walls with all the spheres, and-"

"You're... taking this rather well." said Toma, baffled.

"Well it's obvious what this is, isn't it?"

Toma's temper blared. "Well obviously its obviousness isn't obvious to me!"

Torako took on a scolding tone. "There's no need to lose your cool. It's clearly some type of government experiment."

"That just teleported its way into my room by accident?" replied Toma incredulously.

"Not by accident!" exclaimed Torako theatrically. "Maybe you've been chosen, for a top secret mission!"

"And not INFORMED about this fact at all?" said Toma in a droll fashion. _Bastards could have at least left a note._

"Or," said Torako, rapidly changing the subject, "it's an alien spacecraft!"

Toma stared at her blankly. "That's... beyond ridiculous."

Torako leant towards the sitting Toma. Her cleavage was positioned not too far from the dark-haired girl's face. The familiar flame of arousal stirred, licking at Touma's insides. She crossed her legs, and turned away in an inept attempt to disguise her blush.

"To-ma!" the blonde chastised didactically. "There are some phenomena that are just beyond our understanding!"

"Yes," said Toma impassionedly, glad for a distraction, "there are some things science can't explain _yet_, but why does that mean that they _must _be exactly what you've already decided they are? There could be"... she gestured vaguely in the direction of the box, "millions of explanations for this." _Most of them utterly insane_, she added mentally. "Why does the fact that it _could_ be your thing mean it _must_ be your thing?"

Torako was silent for a time, apparently taken aback by Toma's display of vehement verbiage. She then piped up again, with renewed vigour.

"You're just being closed minded."

Toma lay back on her bed, exasperated.

_Can't believe I'm in love with this moron._

"You have to believe in _some _things without proof," she concluded, "otherwise life seems meaningless."

"Maybe it is!" said Toma frustrated. "It wouldn't contradict what I've seen so far."

Toma lay down next to her, smiling, a wry grin on her face. Clearly, she was greatly enjoying confounding Toma.

"Okay then, what's your theory, smartypants?"

"We're... all hallucinating or something?" Toma uttered uncertainly.

Torako smirked. "Now THAT is ridiculous."

Toma lay back, closed her eyes, and sighed. This morning, she had been worried about her brother stealing her cyberpunk manga and the upcoming biology exam (which, to her credit, seemed overly preoccupied with the intricate particulars of mitosis). Now, she was being forced to deal with the sudden appearance of a bizarre dimensional anomaly in her bedroom, with only the help of the ditzy girl she was inexplicably in love with. It was a lot to take in. As much as it pained her to admit it, Torako had a point. It was... possible that the box was supernatural in nature. She should really call someone. Her parents were automatically out, as was any of her immediate family or friends. She highly doubted that they would contribute anything meaningful to the situation. The police? As much as she mistrusted the government, she suspected they would be able to offer the most support in this situation. Her mind was made up.

"Torako? I think we should call the..."

She stopped, realising she was alone. The box's door was slightly ajar.

"Torako!"

Concern overcoming her fear, she ran into the box as fast as she could.

* * *

><p>It was just as she had remembered. The walls were so high and... strangely curved, neatly dotted with orbs. There were great, massive structures that rose up from the ground that looked like bizarre trees, or coral. The scene was bathed in a brilliant green light. But one feature drew her attention most of all. A ginormous... she supposed were she to classify it, a control panel, rose from the middle of the scene like a column. It was a great terminal of buttons switches and wires, surrounded by a handrail, it's base a strangely shaped contraption, like an overstuffed discus. Rising from it, was a brilliant clear cylinder that connected to the impossibly high ceiling. She stood there in awe, marvelling at the absurdist tableau laid out before her.<p>

_Maybe_, the thought, an impossible idea worming its way into her brain for not the first time that night, _this is real_.

Toma spied Torako leaning over the control panel. She walked over to her, her footfalls making truncated clanging sounds. The terminal's surface was covered with all manner of strange buttons, levers, wires and orbs. Everything in here felt so... wrong. And yet, somehow, she felt right at home.

"What are you doing?" she inquired.

"Looking for a message, of course!" said Torako, searching intently.

"Of... course." Toma echoed drolly. "From who, the... government agents, or aliens, or... what?"

"I dunno. Your guess is a good as mine." the blonde repeated, intensely examining a large protuberant green disc.

"Listen, Torako, I don't know if we're doing the right thing. I think we should call someone."

"No!" said Torako, as if Toma had uttered something utterly scandalous. "They could be watching the phones and networks!"

"WHO!" bellowed Toma in frustration, "WHO could be!"

"The aliens or government agents of course!" said Torako as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Toma slank back, defeated.

Only to be thrown forward again not a second later.

Toma put out her hands to steady herself against the control panel as the very ground beneath their feet began to shake. The great pillar in the middle of the control column began to ascend and descend slowly, and a tremendous grinding noise filled the air. Torako yelped as she fell sideways, before Toma grabbed her, stopping her descent. They both grabbed the handrails surrounding for support as everything in the room shook and lurched as if it was being ravaged by massive tremors.

"WHAT," Toma screamed over the grinding as the room lurched left and right, while she fought to hold on to the handrail, "IS GOING ON!"  
>"I don't know!" yelled Torako, as she did a bizarre sort of pelvic thrust in order to stay upright. "It's like we're in an earthquake!"<p>

"But is it affecting the whole house, or just the box! No way this is a coincidence!" said Toma, as she skidded to the left like a fiddler crab to avoid a painful collision with the floor.

"Actually, no," said Torako, apparently to herself, "it's like riding the train when all of the seats are taken and you have to use those stupid dangling thingies."

"Why couldn't I have just left the damn box alone?" Toma despaired as she the wires of the ceiling came close to showering her shoulder in sparks.

"And you're riding the bus during a massive earthquake in San Francisco and there are giant elephants rampaging everywhere!" said Torako, clearly having an entirely different conversation as she gripped the handrail, her knuckles bone-white.

There was a powerful upwards motion and Toma's stomach lurched.

"No, it's like we're... flying!"

A tremendous starboard thrust sent Torako flailing away from the rail and into Toma's chest. Toma, too, lost her grip and the pair of them fell backwards.

The last thought that entered Toma's mind before her head collided with the metal floor and she fell unconscious, (apart from a few stray perverted ones due to her close proximity to Torako) was: _flying very, very badly._

* * *

><p>Toma awoke alone, still lying on the cold floor. It felt like morning. Her head rang out in pain. She sat up, massaging a sizeable bump on the back of her head. The ground had stopped shaking, at least. Torako was standing up, stretching. Toma got to her feet.<p>

"Toma!" yelled the blonde delightedly, embracing Toma hard, "you're okay!"

"Yep, yep, I'm fine." replied the bespectacled girl, blushing and gently pushing Torako away.

There was a slight moment of awkwardness between them.

"We should... get back to my room." said Toma at last.

"...That's kind of the problem." said Torako reluctantly as Toma ran to the door.

Toma thrust the doors open...

...and was greeted by the sight of a vast grassland. Her jaw dropped. A scene of untamed wilderness lay before her. Strange shrieking caws sounded throughout the air, the landscape bordered by cycads and tall trees.

"We're not _in _your room anymore."

Toma gulped.

It was going to be a long day.


	3. Three

In the shade of a vast conifer forest, a young girl was, (for not the first time that day) having an emotional crisis.  
>Toma stood, a few feet from the blue box, refusing to believe her eyes. She stared, first at the box, then at the trees to her left, and finally at the rocky plateau that sprawled out in all directions. Torako stood next to her, looking worried.<br>Finally, she said something.  
>"What the..."<br>Her expletives were drowned out by the shrieking cries of a flock of Pterosaurs.  
>Toma gazed skyward at the petite reptilians.<br>"Are those...?"'  
>"Yep. Dinosaurs. I mean, no, 'cause Pterosaurs aren't dinosaurs. But yeah, there are dinosaurs here."<br>Torako pointed towards the sprawling plateau in the distance, which, sure enough, was sparsely dotted with enormous beasts, grazing on the sparse flora. Some were larger than elephants, with mottled brown hides, four muscular limbs, bone-white horns and great, frill-necked heads. Others were smaller and scutiform, with inflexible tails ending in football-sized clubs.

Dinosaurs.

_Dinosaurs._

Shit.

She slumped weakly against the outside wall of the box, feeling out of her depth.  
>"Nothing." she muttered to herself, as a gentle breeze blew over the two of them. "Nothing about this day makes sense."<br>Toma laid her head in her hands, as the bright morning sun washed over this strange world. The air felt different somehow. Strange, primeval sounds echoed faintly in the distance. Even the ground beneath her feet was different, grass replaced by a patchwork of weeds and ferns.  
>How had that box taken them here? More importantly, how the hell were they going to get home? The box had transported them seemingly of its own accord, she was doubtful of their ability to coax it into working again.<br>Torako sat beside her, inexplicably cheerful.  
>"It'll be okay, Toma."<br>"Torako", the bespectacled girl muttered glumly, "we're stranded on a hill, surrounded by dinosaurs, thousands of miles and possibly millions of years from home, with only an insane space shed for company. How, exactly, will things be okay?"  
>"Excuse me!" said a cheerful male voice. "Maybe I can help."<br>The four of them jumped. The voice had come from inside the box.  
>Toma swivelled around. She and Torako peered inside.<br>A small television, jutting out from the control panel, had burst into life. It showed a static-ridden image of a grinning, dark-haired man. The girls were speechless.  
>"Hello!" he said cheerfully, his strong English accent sounding slightly distorted. "I'm the Doctor. I expect you've got a few questions."<br>"Quite a few actually." said Toma weakly

Toma was reclining on a rather comfortable hanging chair in the control room. Toma had gone to investigate the other rooms, deciding to do so after the Doctor had told her about the anti-gravity bubble bath. Toma had declined her invitation to tag along, somehow doubting she could take more than one freaky alien time-travel room in the same day.  
>"So, this box, this..."<br>"TARDIS. Time And Relative Dimensions in Space."  
>"Right. So, how the hell can it be bigger on the inside? And for that matter, how can it travel in time?"<br>"That's a bit complicated." replied the Doctor.  
>"Doctor, any explanation would be preferable to nothing. Even one I don't understand."<br>"Okay, basically, It's dimensionally transcendental. The inside exists on a different plane of reality to the outside, which is why it can be larger. Technically, if you put something in it and stayed outside it, it wouldn't exist. Or it would and you wouldn't. Or neither of you would. Or you both would. Or all of the above at the same time. Of course, it would all depend on how many bananas you'd eaten in your life. And" he screwed up his face in thought, "maybe if you were wearing electric slippers or not. Confused yet, Toma?"  
>"Yes." she said simply.<br>"Oh, and as for time travel, basically, it utilises the temporal energy of..."  
>"Stop." Toma interrupted him. "You know what, I changed my mind. No explanation is good enough for me."<br>Sounds of Torako's delighted laughter rang out from the hallway.  
>"Is she gonna be okay with that..."<br>"Anti-gravity bubble bath." finished the Doctor. "No need to worry, I put it in safe mode."  
>"...Right." said Toma, still not entirely convinced. "So, this machine, did you build it?" She had visions of this odd man tinkering in his garage, a screwdriver held between his teeth.<br>"Well, no." said he. "I sort of... borrowed it. And anyway, I didn't make her", the Doctor replied, as if it was obvious. "TARDISes are born, not made."  
>"But.." said Toma "it's a machine."<br>"Oi!" exclaimed the Doctor indignantly. "Don't talk like that, you'll hurt her feelings!"  
>Toma leant back and sighed. She supposed a living time machine was not significantly more ridiculous than anything else she had been asked to accept today.<br>Still, she clung to the hope that he was simply a madman with a proclivity for personification. She thought it best to humour him.  
>"...Sorry. So, anyway, where did you say you were?"<br>"A rave party on Beta Caprisis. Very lively, of you like that sort of thing, but I needed a breather, so I ducked into the broom cupboard. Good thing I brought my long-range communicator!"  
>"Uh...huh." said Toma trepidatiously. "Beta Caprisis, that'd be... what, an alien planet, right?"<br>"Of course!" said the Doctor, grinning. "28th Century."  
>Toma sat, slack-jawed, stunned and apparently frozen, for a few seconds. The Doctor waited patiently. Gradually, Toma returned to reality.<br>"Sorry. It's just..."  
>"S'alright. Culture shock, I've seen it many times before."<br>"But... extra-dimensional blue boxes? Time travel? Dinosaurs? Other worlds? It's a lot to take in for one day."  
>"Don't forget aliens."<br>"What do you mean?"  
>"Well, you've met me."<br>There was silence.  
>"You... you mean.. you?<br>"Oh yes!"  
>Toma was about to reply (with what she did not know), but was interrupted.<br>"Doctor?" chimed Torako's voice.  
>Torako gasped. Torako was standing in the control room, her skin slightly damp.<br>And wearing nothing but a towel.  
>It covered only her torso and abdomen, leaving in plain view her slender, shapely legs, her beautiful, milk-white neck and sternum, and the tops of her...<br>Toma blushed luminously. Fiery arousal pulsed through her teenage form like wildfire. It was as if her nipples had turned to stone and she felt weak at the knees - to say nothing of more sensitive places.  
>"Oh, hey Toma!" said Torako, seemingly oblivious to the other girl's infatuation. She gave a cheerful wave, her towel threatening to come loose.<br>Toma turned away, trying to control the animal desires that had engulfed her. "...Hi." she stammered.  
>"That stuff is amazing! It just lets you float around in every direction! Anyway, Doctor, do you have a hairdryer?"<br>"In the left corridor, third cupboard on the right", said the Doctor, who, ever the gentleman, had averted his on-screen gaze. "I try not to use them too often, they jam my screwdriver."  
>Torako nodded, turned around and ran off, her glistening, nymph-like form bathed in the blue light.<br>Toma felt as though she would melt.  
>After about a minute, the beast inside of her had become subdued. That was torture.<br>Waving in front of her something she could never have.  
>"Quite outgoing, your friend, isn't she?" said the Doctor, the merest hint of mirth in his voice.<br>"Yeah." said Toma distantly. "She is."

The Doctor was able to charm himself into acquiring something called a "Vortex Manipulator" from a drunken Time Agent, and warped inside the TARDIS, his appearance heralded by a flash of electric blue. He was very tall, and even more exuberant in person, with vaguely imposing sideburns and a handsome pinstriped blue suit.  
>Torako was in awe of his fast-paced mannerisms, the way he gallivanted about the control room frenziedly pushing buttons, pulling levers and all manner of overelaborate doohickeys.<br>"Thought I'd take you girls on a quick trip before I drop you home." said the sideburn-sporting Englishman (or alien). "Where do you fancy? The Eye of Orion? New Occam? Fujino 12? The Caprica Spiral? Upper Sonora? Raven's Gala? The found moon of Poosh?"  
>"Erm..." said Toma, unsure how to respond.<br>"I like the sound of that "Sonora" one!" said Torako.  
>"Ooh, Upper Sonora's brilliant! It's all picnics and red-grass hills and silent films and alligators."<br>He expertly swivelled to the left, pulling a turquoise lever with one hand and operating a perculiar corkscrew-like contraption with the other. It was evidently a well-rehearsed movement on his part.  
>"Oh!" he said triumphantly. "I know!"<br>He forcibly pulled a large switch.  
>"Hold on tight!" he said, grinning maniacally.<br>The girls, having not forgotten their last trip, hurriedly gripped the handrail.  
>"Allons-y!" said the Doctor. The tremendous grinding noise began as the room shook wildly. Toma and Torako held on for dear life.<br>The mad, magical box hurtled off into the sky, its passengers not knowing what awaited them.


	4. Four

Toma was beginning to get used to the Doctor's mode of transport. She had worked out a system of inadvertently erotic hip-movements that made staying upright during TARDIS travel relatively easy. How absurd it was, that she could get used to something so utterly bizarre.

"So, where _are_ you taking us?" asked Torako, balancing with one hand grabbing the handrail, the other clutching the side of the console.

"Oh, it a surprise!" replied the odd man, beaming. "You're gonna love it!"

Eventually, they grinded to a halt. Without hesitation, the Doctor strode towards the TARDIS doors.

"Toma, Torako." he said excitedly. "Outside these doors there's another world. A world of infinite power and possibility, just waiting for you. Are you ready?"

"Yes, very!" said Torako, nodding vigorously.

"Umm... sure, okay, yeah." said Toma, who was finding today just a bit difficult.

"Then here we go!"

The Doctor threw the doors open, and...

They were in an enormous city. But, Toma reflected, the word "city" failed to do it justice. The TARDIS had landed on a street-corner of an enormous, sprawling metropolis, a tremendous hive of activity, with all manner of weird and wonderful buildings. There were those of the standard rectangular variety, but there were other kinds as well, strange, corkscrew-shaped contraptions that glistened faintly, as well as great, spherical domiciles that hung, completely unsupported in the air. Below the great jungle of buildings, all manner of shops, stalls and huts crisscrossed the roads, above which lithe mechanical contraptions flew. The pedestrians themselves were all manner of being, from the mostly human, to the inadvertently alien, and the discretely robotic. Toma stared up, and saw that, impossible as it may seem, the entire city was encased in an enormous transparent dome, out of which she could glimpse an inky black sky.

_Wow_, thought Toma. _Just... wow._

Torako, too, was speechless. This was a thoroughly rare occurrence in itself.

"Have I impressed you yet?" asked the Doctor casually?

"Yes!" said both girls in unison.

"Space Melbourne!" said the Doctor with his usual enthusiasm. He draped his arms around the two of them in a bracing gesture. "You see, 33rd Century, solar flares hit the earth, so everyone moved away into space! Great, floating colony ships, starships spanning entire countries. Of course, Melbourne was a special case. Landed on a great big asteroid, Delphina Metraxis. Still part of Australia though. Fast forward a few centuries, now there are loads of refugees from other worlds, and there you have it! Space Melbourne, a weird and wonderful city for all. And, if nothing else, being nailed to an asteroid in a great big bubble has done wonders for the weather."

Contradictingly, they were immediately drenched in a torrent of rain. The three of them dashed for cover, making ludicrous hand-motions. They sheltered under the awning of a coffee-shop for a few moments as they watched the array of pedestrians calmly sidle into covered areas. Evidently, inexplicable weather was nothing unusual.

Toma was about to say something, but the Doctor hushed her and said "Wait a minute."

They waited for a few minutes, with silent anticipation. Then, the rain immediately stopped, as quickly as it had begun.

"Sensitive climate." said the Doctor, grinning. "Literally.

"But how can there _be _weather?" asked Torako. "We're in freakin' space"

"Eh, it's got a complicated, sciency explanation." said the Doctor. "C'mon, let's find some stuff."

The small group wandered the streets of Space Melbourne, taking in the bizarre and brilliant sights in a dreamlike state. They had come across market stalls stocked by atypically insectioid shopkeepers, moving bronze statues advertising something (it was difficult to tell), and an actual, proper, Star Trek-style spaceship, parked in mid-air. They'd even encountered an alien bookshop, sporting all manner of sumptuous tomes that they'd had fascinated Toma so that they had to drag her away. She was transfixed by the leather-bound volumes. They were filled with diagrams of all manner of strange, beautiful creatures, vast, terrible, beautiful worlds. The Doctor had offered to buy her one, but, embarrassed, she said that he'd given her enough today. The three of them were currently seated upon a deep-purple bench in a hilly, idyllic park, staring at the vast buildings sprawled out before them. The Doctor had bought a McClintock's candy-burger for each of them. Toma thought that its name was suspiciously accurate. You can never trust true advertising.

"See, this is called Anchor Park, named after the one in Brisbane, which in turn was..."

Suddenly the Doctor was interrupted by loud, booming noises coming from the city. A great, thunderous bellow, like that of a large animal, mixed with a softer, angry bray, like a mule."

"Trouble?" asked Torako.

"Most definitely." said the Doctor, who then leapt from the bench. "Let's go check it out!"


	5. Five

The three of them sped through the crowd, running wildly towards the noise. Torako dodged sideways to avoid an insect shopkeeper. The bellowing was growing louder, and it was intermingling with frenzied shouting.  
>"See, that's the thing about trouble." said the Doctor, running slightly ahead of the girls. "Quite easy to get into, but..."<br>He skidded to a halt. Toma and Torako stopped abruptly behind him.  
>"Rather difficult to get out of."<br>He pointed to the source of the commotion.  
>On any other day, Toma wouldn't have believed her eyes.<br>A gigantic beast was rampaging through the marketplace. It was a bizarre, patchwork creation. It's body was enormous, like that of an large mammal, it's legs as thick as tree-trunks. But it was it's head region that was bound to draw the most attention.  
>It had two.<br>One head was an African elephants', trunk waving and ears flapping wildly, bellowing thunderously with rage.  
>The other was that of a donkey, who was braying in anger at the other head.<br>The Doctor was shocked, even more so than would be expected.  
>"It's a Donkephant."<br>"A what?" said Toma.  
>"Donkephant. It's half donkey, half elephant. Political debater. Genetically egineered to be a perfect fusion of liberal and conservative ideologies. But they always seem to get into arguments with themselves."<br>The elephant head started yelling again.  
>"A governmentally restricted economy is antithetical to the concept of freedom!" bellowed the elephant head.<br>"No, it positively embodies freedom, freedom from the nefarious influences of corrupt billionaires and bloodsucking corporations!" brayed the donkey head in response.  
>The elephant head swung it's trunk in an attempt to strike its neighbour, but collided with a fruit-stand instead. Produce was strewn all over the street.<br>"So," said the Doctor, "how am I going to stop them?"  
>"Wait, what?" said Toma incredulously. "Why is it your job to stop them?"<br>"Because I'm the Doctor." he replied. "It's what I do."  
>His expression suggested that there would be no further debate on the subject.<br>The donkey head head-butted another stall. A scaly merchant scrambled away just in time as his stall was crushed.  
>"Although, admittedly, this is a tad more small-scale than what I'm used to." <em>This is small scale? <em>Thought Toma incredulously, staring at the enormous Donkephant.  
>"Th-then we'll help you!" said Torako, after some hesitation.<br>"Excellent!" said the Doctor brightly. "That's quite a happy coincidence really, because I've got a plan!"

"Hey, freakshow!"  
>The Donkephant stopped smashing a hovercar with it's front feet (whilst arguing with itself about healthcare) and turned to look at Toma. Both heads glared at her menacingly.<br>Toma, rapidly losing her conviction that this had been a good idea, continued.  
>"Why don't you just stop arguing? Granted, debate is a brilliant tool for creating new ideas and forming new viewpoints. But this isn't debate. It's just automatically gainsaying everything your opponent says! Maybe, instead of just yelling predetermined retorts at each other, you could actually listen, and work out who's right!"<br>The Donkephant seemed to consider this for a second.  
>And then it charged.<br>Toma stood, stock-still in its path.  
>And then, praying that the Doctor's plan worked, she leapt to the side.<br>A metre-long tusk missed her head by inches as she fell hard on the vegetable-strewn ground.  
>Torako and the Doctor leapt out from behind a melon-stand, both brandishing gunmetal tranquiliser guns. Before the Donkephant even had time to launch a smear campaign (or possibly just flee) the golden-haired beauty shot a long black dart into its rump. It stumbled around for few seconds before falling on its side with a thunderous crash. The elephant head mumbled something about the "right to bear arms". The donkey head slurred a reply about violent crime reduction. The Doctor shot another dart into the beast's side, and it both promptly fell unconscious, its tongues lolling out of the sides of its mouths.<br>There was a brief silence.  
>"Is this what it's always like?" said Toma weakly.<br>"Pretty much." said the Doctor, grinning.


	6. Six

The artificial sunlight gleamed just as brightly as the real thing through the single window of a dingy, dust-covered prayer room. Its black walls were haphazardly festooned with photographs of planets and stars. Peculiar looking silver instruments floated in the air, seemingly unsupported. The room was located in an insignificant apartment in one of the city's more nondescript buildings. It was little more than a glorified broom cupboard, but it suited its occupant just fine. An old man, clad in dark magenta robes, sat cross-legged, deep in cosmic meditation. His concentration was shattered as a gangly, raven-haired man clad in robes of the same colour ran into the room, forcibly reefing the grey-haired little monk from his meditation.

"Feel free to burst in." he muttered irritably.

"Jasper!" yelled the pale-skinned, exhausted man with a slight lisp. "It's *puff* here! The Object from the Prophecy!"

Jasper was unfazed.

"Is it really, Osric? Or is it like last week, when you thought that ice-cream truck was the Object?"

"It was extraordinarily cubist!" protested the slender, effeminate man.

"Or that time you thought that poor woman's hair was the Object?"

"Yes, I had to make a public apology. But this time it's real! I swear it!"

Jasper sighed. Hopefully they could avoid a major incident this time.

"I was outside the city flying my kite, when I saw it. Just parked on the top of a hill, like something out of a dream! All these years of searching, and one day it just turns up on our doorstep!" said Osric, gesticulating wildly.

"Are you sure it wasn't just a tractor or something?" asked Jasper apprehensively.

Osric did not reply, but he simply fiddled with his wrist-mounted communicator.

"I snapped a hologram of it! Look at this, Jasper, and tell me I'm wrong!"

The image projected from Osric's communicator was grainy, but it told him all he needed to know.

There was no mistaking it.  
>That was the Object.<p>

His jaw dropped. Something that had not happened for hundreds of years had finally occurred.

Osric was _right_ about something.

...

Toma wondered how, precisely, she had found herself lying on the ground on an alien planet opposite an unconscious elephant with a donkey head. She highly doubted she was _ever_ going to get used to this sort of thing.

"Where did you get those tranquiliser guns?" asked the bespectacled brunette as Torako pulled her up.

"A souvenir from the time I saved a Kenyan ranger park from the Rutans.

Too tired to ask what a Rutan was, Toma watched as the powder-blue clothed men loaded the sleeping giant onto an impossibly huge stretcher, and, with a tremendous effort, moved the Donkephant onto their spacecraft, which for all the world resembled an enormous gunmetal brick.

Torako, inexplicably, was concerned for the beast's welfare.

_She's so kind _thought Toma, staring at the beautiful girl. _So ready to forgive._ _Nothing like me._

"What are they going to do with it?" asked the blonde nervously.

The Doctor shrugged. "Give it a talk show?"

"It trashed the marketplace!" said Toma, indignantly. _And nearly killed me, _she added mentally, not wanting to appear petulant.

Toma's eyes followed the craft sped off into the faintly purple sky, leaving a black vapour trail.

"I wonder how the elephant head feels about toughness on crime now." mused the Doctor sagely.

"And how the donkey head feels about big government." muttered Toma in response.

"Let's not start this again." said Torako sensibly.

The Doctor sat up with a jolt.

"Tell you what." said he. "If you really want to know what'll happen to him, I know someone we can ask."

The Doctor put two fingers in his mouth, and whistled deafeningly. "Malkoren!" he yelled across the wrecked square.

A tall, muscular man, who was, presumably, Malkoren, looked up from examining the ruins of a bootleg DVD stall and began to stride towards them. He was clad in the same uniform as the rest of the police, save for his possessing rather magnificent golden epaulettes.

Suddenly, Toma gasped. How she had failed to notice this immediately, she had no idea, but the man had green skin. She supposed, on a planet full of aliens, she should really learn to be less judgemental. He was rather intriguing to look at, really. His face and hands were covered with large, roughly hewn scales. At the top of his head, the line of his forehead became a strange, webbed crown. He had a long scar on his right cheek, a small, pointed nose, and a mouth that would have looked more at home in a low-budget late-night horror flick. But his eyes, his eyes were very human.

"Wow." said Torako softly.

"He's a Silurian." whispered the Doctor out of the corner of his mouth. "Be polite."

"Why, is he dangerous?" hissed Toma worriedly.

"No, just common courtesy." said the Doctor, smiling sweetly.

"Doctor." said Malkoren gruffly, grasping the Doctor's hand in his own, grinning. Warm as his smile may have been, he had a voice like a rusty engine.

"Toma, Torako, meet Detective Inspector Malkoren" said the Doctor, gesturing toward the Silurian.

"Hi!" piped Toma cheerfully.

"N..nice to meet you." said Toma mutedly.

"Charmed." growled the Detective, nodding.

"Anyway," said the Doctor, "one of my friends had a question about the Donkephant."

"Yeah." said Torako, her tone suddenly maternal. "What's going to happen after you guys have arrested him?"

Malkoren gave a guttural laugh. "Oh you needn't worry about him. Legally not responsible for his actions. We've got a wildlife reserve just for rogue political animals, built to look like Rachel Maddow's ensuite. There all there, the Culture Warrior, the Power Separator, even the famous Tyrant-o-saurus Rex."

"I've met him." said the Doctor. "Very charismatic."

"Now, if that's all..." said Malkoren, walking back towards the crime scene.

"Actually no." said Toma, as much to her own surprise as anyone else's. She had realised that she had another question to ask. "Why didn't you guys help out when the Donkephant was actually attacking. Lots of people were nearly killed. What if we hadn't been there to stop him?"  
>When the enormous green man glared at her, she immediately regretted her question.<p>

"Listen, I know how the Doctor works. He shows up out of nowhere to save everyone at the last second. And, often, some people have to die to prove him right. Usually military personnel or police, try to combat or reason with the monster. And what happens to them? They get killed for dramatic effect. And I'll be damned," he growled, grinning maniacally, "if that's going to happen to any of _my _men. I knew no civilians would die until you arrived, it would be more climactic that way. And, hopefully, I thought, when the Doctor did come up with a crazy, last ditch effort to save us, you'd keep the casualty rate at zero. And what do you know?" he said, with a bizarre sort of twirl. "I was right!"

And without another word, he walked away towards the wreckage.

Neither Toma nor Torako were entirely sure what to think.

"He's not a bad guy." said the Doctor diplomatically. "He's just a little..."

"Insane?" suggested Torako.

"I wasn't going to say it but... yes, yes he is."


End file.
